Contents

Anime

In the anime, Lead Crow, an agent of Sailor Galaxia and member of the Sailor Animamates, worked under the pretense of being a talent agent for the Ginga TV station, named Akane Karasuma. Lead Crow's job was to scout for potential Star Seeds and extract them with her partner, Sailor Aluminum Seiren.
Sailor Lead Crow was a tall woman with dark skin and reddish hair. She had wings, but they were only shown a few times during the anime.

Lead Crow was not very much like her partner: she was very dominant, very driven, and annoyed with failure. She was also very cunning, and her resolve caused her to argue with Seiren. Nevertheless, Lead Crow and Aluminum Seiren got along very well, and shared a deep, respectful relationship with one another under their professed rivalry.

Lead Crow's halcyon days ended when Seiren was executed by Sailor Galaxia, and then ridiculed by Sailor Tin Nyanko, the last Sailor Animamate. It was the disrespectful Tin Nyanko that Lead Crow was eventually paired up with, and she was upstaged and humiliated at every turn by the new, overly ambitious partner. Tin Nyanko also had no hesitation in insulting Aluminum Seiren's memory. All Lead Crow could ever do was try to upstage her back, as well as threaten and argue with her, even in front of the bewildered Sailor Senshi.

Finally, Lead Crow found the solution to her problems: Aluminum Seiren had written Sailor Moon's true identity in her diary, and this led her to Juuban Municipal High School in episode 193. She confronted Sailor Moon and even managed to extract her Star Seed after threatening to use a miniature black hole to devour the school. It was the black hole, however, that would lead to her downfall. Tin Nyanko used her bracelet attack to knock the black hole out of Lead Crow's hands, causing her, Usagi, and Chibi Chibi to be sucked in. As she died, Tin Nyanko appeared to taunt her one last time, and said she would deliver the Star Seed to Galaxia.

Attacks

Bracelets - Sailor Lead Crow could fire blasts from her bracelets that would remove a person's Star Seed.

Whip - Sailor Lead Crow also carried a whip which she used once to physically attack the Sailor Senshi.

Manga

Sailor Lead Crow appeared in Act 52 of the manga, in which she attacked the Hikawa Shrine, severely injuring Rei's grandfather. She then called out to Phobos and Deimos, who, as it turned out, had trained alongside her on the planet Coronis when they were younger. The people of Coronis could turn from crow to human form and back with relative ease; however, Phobos, Deimos, and Lead Crow were the only three left from that planet, as Lead Crow had helped Sailor Galaxia to murder Sailor Coronis and destroy the planet.

After quickly dispatching her former allies and taking their Star Seeds, she then turned on Sailor Mars and Sailor Venus and attacked them. Before she could properly dispose of them, however, Sailor Moon appeared, and one Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss later, Lead Crow was destroyed.

It was later revealed that Lead Crow and the other Sailor Animamates were not real Sailor Senshi, but were only granted their powers by Galaxia in exchange for killing their home world's true protectors. In Lead Crow's case, she had usurped the powers of Sailor Coronis.

Attacks

Galactica Tornado - This was Sailor Lead Crow's primary attack. It was a blast of energy and high-speed wind, which was directed towards her enemies.

Musicals

Ado Endou asSailor Lead Crow

Sailor Lead Crow appeared in the musicalsStarlights - Ryuusei Densetsu and its revision, Kakyuu-Ouhi Kourin - The Second Stage Final, and the 2003 Summer and 2004 Winter Specials, respectively. Along with her fellow minions of Galaxia, she posed as a member of the Dancing Animamates, an "International Dancing Team." She went by the name "Manila Karasu," and was the group's choreographer. This was something of an in-joke, as Lead Crow's actress, Ado Endou, choreographed those two musicals.

In these musicals she led Sailor Iron Mouse, Sailor Metal Papillon, and in the second musical, Sailor Aluminum Seiren. She wished to become a true Sailor Senshi and was promised by Galaxia that she would become one if she succeeded in the Animamates' mission to kill Sailor Moon and Sailor Saturn. She spoke of a homeland that she said she could never return to and during the climax of the musicals, she, along with Galaxia and the other Animamates, gained Chaos' power. She was eventually purified by Sailor Moon.

Attacks

Galactica Tornado

Symbolism

Lead is element number 82 on the periodic table. It is a malleable, dense, and toxic metal. It has poor conductivity, and is primarily used in car batteries and as a container for more toxic components (such as radioactive materials). The words "lead" and "red" are written the same way in katakana, which is why Lead Crow's outfit and hair have a reddish hue. This even caused TokyoPop to transliterate her name as "Sailor Red Crow" in their manga translation, despite the fact that this does not follow the metal/alloy naming pattern of the other Sailor Animamates.

The significance of "Crow" comes from the home planet Coronis, named after a lover of Apollo in Greek mythology. She had the misfortune to fall in love with another man while she was pregnant with Apollo's child, Asclepius, and she was killed by Artemis for it, though not before Apollo delivered Asclepius. The legend varies as to how the crow fits into the legend - either it was a crow that informed Apollo of her lover's affair, or Apollo turned Coronis into a crow after her death, as he still loved her. Either way, the feathers of the crow became blackened as a result of the event.

Trivia

Sailor Lead Crow used the pseudonym "Akane Karasuma" in the anime series. "Akane" (茜) means "madder," a shade of red, and "karasu" (鴉) means "crow," making her name mean "red crow," a pun on "Lead Crow."